A Softer Stroke
by crazysockmonkeys
Summary: David must figure out what to get his mom for her birthday. One-shot for leighann415!


By the light of his desk lamp, David let his pencil glide across the paper as he began to form the T-Rex he was drawing. He drew the long tail, the head, and the pointy teeth. He drew his tiny arms and big feet. And for the finale, he gave his dinosaur a big top hat.

Smiling, David put down his pencil. There were a few things he liked sketching the most, and dinosaurs were one of them. Of course, his mother's birthday was coming up, and he knew that that was not something he could draw a T-Rex for. That reminded him, he really had to think about that. Her birthday was approaching fairly soon. He'd have to come up with something, but what? Of course, he supposed he could always just ask his dad to take him to the store and buy something for his mom, but that wouldn't be the same. He knew how much his mother seemed enjoyed his artwork.

David sat thinking for a few minutes until he got an idea: why not draw her? Or better yet, why not _paint_ her? He didn't have paints around his home (his father wouldn't allow them in his house on account of the mess), but maybe if he asked his art teacher, she'd let him stay after school and work there.

He'd need a picture, though, something to work from. David knew that there were plenty of photos around the house, so he took a walk.

David's room was on the second floor, so he walked up to the third floor first. There were a good number of pictures of him as a baby and as a toddler, and then there was this school year's picture of him. There were pictures of his mom and his dad with their arms around one another, and pictures of his whole family together.

The last place David visited was his parents' room. He took a look around, but he still didn't see any pictures of just his mother. As he turned around to go walk out, his dad stopped him at the door. "David, what are you doing?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing, I was just looking for something," David answered.

"What were you looking for?"

"Is mom here?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well...I want to paint a picture of her for her birthday."

"Oh, I see," he said. "That's a great idea. I think I might know a place where you could look."

David followed his father Niles into the library, where he grabbed a photo book from a shelf and gave it to David, who sat down. "That is a photo album your grandma put together of Daphne and her brothers when they were children."

"_Grandma _made _this?" _

Niles laughed. "Yes, it's hard to believe, isn't it? Well, good luck, David. Are you going to paint it at school?"

"Yeah."

Niles nodded and left David alone to look through the book. In it were mostly photos of all of his loud and boisterous uncles at a younger age to begin with, then came the pictures of his mom. They started off with baby pictures, and there were more and more as Daphne grew. After looking through about half the book, David finally found a photo he liked. It was Daphne at probably about six years old, sitting on a marble bench. Behind her was a large, blooming bush of pink and purple flowers. Daphne was wearing a light blue dress, white shoes, and her hair was straight and flowing. She was smiling so big that her eyes were squinty, and her feet dangled from the bench. The caption below read: _Daphne on Easter Sunday._

David took out the picture, put away the book, and raced to hide the photo under some books in his room.

The next day, at David's elementary school, he made his request to his teacher, and thankfully she agreed to let him stay after the next day and paint, and he did. He told his mother that he had to stay after school to do something very important, and after Niles' urging that everything was all right, she agreed. All that day, David sat impatiently, waiting to be dismissed, and once he was he practically skipped to the art room.

The first thing he did was pick out his paints. Looking at his picture, he chose two different shades of green, blue for the sky and Daphne's dress, and of course pink and purple for the flowers. He also got dark brown for her hair and white for her shoes. He took gray for the concrete and the bench, as well as a peachy color for her skin tone.

After that, he sat down and sketched the photo on the paper, and once he was pleased with it, he took three different sizes of brushes and started painting. It took him almost an hour to get everything the way he wanted it to be, but once he was done, he was satisfied and had faith that his mom would like the job that he had done. The last thing he did was get a tiny bit of black paint and a very small brush. As carefully as he could, he signed his name in the bottom left corner of the paper: _David Crane._

David put the painting on the drying rack, thanked his teacher, and left. The next day was his mom's birthday, and he'd pick it up and bring it home then.

Daphne's birthday started off with Niles making her an extravagant breakfast and bringing it to her on a tray so that she could eat in bed. After he had gotten ready for the school day, David gave her a kiss on the cheek and promised her that her gift from him would be ready later.

Sure enough, when Daphne came to pick up her son after school, he made sure it was hidden as he climbed into the back seat and did his best to keep from her view as they walked up to their apartment together. Finally, at the birthday dinner Niles had arranged for her at a fancy restaurant that evening, David insisted that his mom see his gift first.

He had leaned the painting under his chair when they had first arrived, so he grabbed it from near his feet, walked over, and unveiled it. Daphne smiled immediately. "Oh my goodness," she said. "I remember this picture. And you've done such a lovely job with recreating it." David couldn't help but wear a huge grin.

Daphne went on, praising her son's use of color and the sort of brush strokes he had used. "This is such a lovely gift, David. You're such a sweet little boy, and so talented." She hugged him tightly and gave him a big kiss. His father complimented his work too and patted him on the back. David beamed as he walked back to his seat, delighted with how everything had turned out.

**The End **


End file.
